MAKING HISTORY

Evening Post, Volume LXXXIX, Issue 126, 29 May 1915, Page 5

MAKING HISTORY

THE GREAT LANDING ON GALLIPOLI "THE GRIM FIGHT WAS SIMPLY HELL" (Times and Sydney Sun Services.) (Beceived May 29, 8 a.m.) LONDON, 28th May. The Times correspondent says : "The great landing operations of other wars were never like that at Gallipoli. Never have landing forces fought their way through such obstacles as did the British, French, and Australasian troops. On six beaches the grim fight was siiriply hell. Every Turco-Prussian ruse was employed. Our losses were heavy, but the wounds mostly were slight. The wounded are cheerful and confident, and longing to be back at the front." SNIPERS WERE DEADLY SHOTS. An Australian officer told the correspondent : "We were anxious before it began, knowing that some of our men were rather raw. < On nearing the beach the enemy opened fire with shrapnel, machine guns, and rifles. The Australasians just fixed bayonets and went up the rocks and hillsides. Only two men were not killed in one boat, and they jumped out and rushed on with the others. They charged over the rough barbed-wire entanglements, and the Turks bolted. Some units rushed on too far, and suffered -heavily, being cut up by machine guns. The scrub everywhere was full of snipers, who were provided with a week's food and two thousand rounds of ammunition. They were deadly, straight shots. One sniper who was killed wore an Australian uniform, and had eight identification badges round his neck. The snipers fired till our men were five yards away 5 then they prayed for quarter. "MAKE ROOM FOR THE WOUNDED!" "A disguised stretcher party cried : 'Make room for the wounded.' The peculiar accent revealed that they were Turkish. The Australasians shot down a dozeD of them. The stretcher contained a, machine gun and three boxes of •mmunition. It was difficult at first to restrain the men from firing, but they soon learnt." AUSTRALIAN WOUNDED MURDERED. The correspondent says : "There is reason to believe that some of the Australasians actually got close to Maidos in their first impetuous rushes. Wounded left in places, and temporarily abandoned, were found to have been murdered, When the positions were re-won the Australians had their revenge, the Turks counter-attacking in dense formation. "CATCH ME WHEN I COME UP!" "The spirit of all ranks is amazing. One Australian, who was climbing down a cliff, was warned that there was a mine below. His response was : 'Catch me when I come up !' "Swarthy men sprang up at one point, crying : 'Salaam, sahibs. We are Punjabis.' The sceptical Australians attacked, and discovered they were Turks and German's with blackened faces. ' "The New Zealandera fought heroically. The Turks fought well, but fled screeching at the sight of the bayonet." ABSOLUTELY IRRESISTIBLE (Times and Sydney Sun Service.) LONDON, 28th May. A naval officer in the Dardanelles writes in The Times : — "The Australasians obtained the most startling success. We rushed six thousand ashore in half an hour. They were absolutely irresistible. The first two boats were wiped out. The remainder went through everything as if no obstacle existed. The barbed wire did no? check them, and the trenches were child's play. They did not fire much, but used their bayonets with tremendous effect, killing every Turk and German reachable, and capturing the deadly machine guns. "Then they charged Up a hill for 700 feet,, clearing everything before them Hot shrapnel fire drove them down part way, but they doggedly dug themselves in halfway down, achieving a wonderful performance. The landing was a great blow to the Turco-Qermans, who thought the place impregnable." (Jfi'ess Association.) FEW CAN COMPARE WITH AUSTRALASIANS (.Received May 29, 9.40 a.m.) SYDNEY, This Day. Captain Bean (official Australian correspondent) cables : "The Australasian method of advancing may, not be the safest, but it is making itself te»iot!« lierc. I have seen all sorts of infantry in action, but none quite equalled and l«vr.

could compare with that which received its long -weary training in the desert round Cairo. The same is true of the stretcher-bearers and the Army Service Corps." TURKS SHORT OP AMMUNITION ATHENS, 28th May. Details of the fighting at Gaba Tepe on the 21st show that the Turks attacked at 3 o'clock in the morning, and made desperate assaults in serried columns for twelve hours, when the Australians were able to signal that they were holding the enemy easily. Then the Australians and New Zealanders drove back the enemy with their bayonets, pursuing them in the open, and inflicting great slaughter. Despite the loss of the battleships, everyone is full of confidence. Optimism has increased by the established fact that the Turco-Germans are short_ of ammunition. Their shrapnel is loaded with pebbles, and the shells have an inner casing of wood. This ammunition was supplied by German contractors during the period when the Kaiser was fraternising with Abdul Hamid. ADVANCE BY THE ALLIES ATHENS, 28th May. On Thursday the Allies, from Sedd el Bahr, advanced six miles. They hold a fortified line from Kriohia to Achi Baba. Their bayonet charges inflicted heavy losses on the Turks. GENERAL YON SANDERS WOUNDED (Keceived May 29, 10 a.m.) PARIS, 28th May. The Echo de Paris reports that General Liman yon Sanders (in command of the Turkish Army) has been wounded, and Admiral yon TJseden succeeds him.